Harry l



H. L. VON TROTT.

TIRE.

APPLxcATloN FILED JULY 26.1918` ,303,998. Patented May 20, 1919.

4o 0 y porting means.

HARRY L. von TRoTT, or roRT iviAnrsoimioWA. v

TIRE.

Specification of Letterslatent. o .Patented May 20, 1919 Application led July 26, 1918. Serial Na/46,796.

To all 'whom t may concern:

Be it known that I, HARRY L. voN TRoTT, a lcitizen vof the United States, residing at Fort Madison, in the county `of Lee and State of Iowa, have invented a certain new and useful Improvement in Tires, of which the following is a full, clear, concise, and

exact description, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, forming a partrof this specification.

.This invention relates to tires for vehicles, and is especially concerned with pneumatic tires.

The objects of my invention are:

First: to provide a tire comprising an outer casing with meanslwhich will prevent the entire tire from becoming deflated and collapsing in the event of a local puncture or blow-out.

Second :Ito provide :a tire in which the usual inner tube is omitted and its place taken and its Jfunction performed by a plurality of elastic cells which are provided with means for iniiating and deflating the same; j l

Third: to provide novel means for inflating and deflating the cells and to prevent the remaining cells fromv becomingy deflated in the event that one or several thereof are punctured or otherwise vrendered incapable of retaining air under pressure;

Fourth: to provide a Vtire of novel constructionwith means whereby theA air pressure in thetire can be measured while a tire is .,beingfinflated; 4

Fifth: to providev a tire having `a sectional construction; vand inner tube the'cells of which areofjnovell Sixth: toprovide novel means for secur- Y ing the individualfcells lto a common* sup- Other objects will appear as the. description progressesreference being had tothe accompanyingdrawings, in which:

Figure V1 is asectionfthrough the fellyof a vehicle wheel and a tire secured thereto, the said tire embodying my invention,l portions of the wheel being broken away;

Fig.,2 is a. transverse sectional view taken on line 2-2 ofy Fig. 1. This figure discloses the valve mechanism shown in'Fig.` 3 and taken on line 2 2 thereoff Fig. 8 4discloses-the inliating and deflating ducts and the coupling means for connecting these cells ducts wit-hone of the elastic Fig. 4 is -a section taken on line 4 4 of Fig. 3 with the exception that in this figure the valve strip isshown in section; and

Fig. 5 is a transverse section through the valve stripV taken on line 5-,5 of Fig. 1, showing the means connecting leither the iniating or deflating stem with either the inflat-ing ordeflating duct.

Similar characters of reference refer to similar parts throughout the several views.

Referring to the drawings, the reference 'character 10 indicatesas a whole a vehicle strip may be made of any suitable rubberV composition, but I prefer to make it of the trimmings which are a waste product formed during the manufacture of tire casings. These' trimmings comprise Y fabric strips impregnated with rubber gum. -By cutting up these strips into still finer strips, mixing them with a small quantity .of rubber gum, passing them through a mill, and calendering the resulting mixture, a compound can be formed which will provide very 'suitable materiall for the Vmanufacture of this valve strip. Embedded in this valve strip are two ducts 16 and 17 respectively, which may be suitably made of-rubber tubing.y At substantially'equal distances along the valve strip I provide coupling members 18 which have a pair of bifurcations 19 and 20 at their inner ends. vThese bifurcations are provided with bores which continue upwardly through the members 18, the bore in the bifurcation 19 being provided with a valve21 seating away from the elastic cell 22 with which its bore communicates, and the bore in the bifurcation 20 being provided with a valve 23 `which seats toward the'cell 22with which its bore communicates. l The ,duct 16 will hereafter be' referred to 'as theinflating duct and theY duct 17 as the The reference character 15 `in.

nerA than the peripheral walls '25. Furthermore, these cells are so disposed Yin the casing that the apexes and bases of alternate cells contact with the outer face ofthe valve strip.

15. By arranging the cells in this manner with the ends overlapping, the frictional contact of the ends of thecells common to structures heretofore proposed, in which the ends of adjacent cells extend substantially radially, is materially reduced. By making the side portions- Qatof the cells of thinner material-than the remaining portions thereof I provide cells which more easily expand to lill the space-s caused by the collapse of adjacent cells than in the structuresheretofore proposed.- v e 'I will nowdescribe somewhat more in detail the means which I employ for securing the cells to the valve strip. From an inspection of Fig. 3 it will be noted that the member 18 is flattenedat-each side as indicated at 26. A washer 27 provided with an aperture corresponding in shape to the upper end of the member 18 fits over this member1 and a nut-28 screws onto the upper end.y of

the member 18. The vnut Q8Y is provided with a plurality of radially extending arms'u29 the ends of-which curve downwardly and 1nwardly, as'shown at 30 in Fig. 4 and are provided with beveled edges 31 whichengage in a V-shaped groove in the periphery of the Washer 2.7. vIn securing one ofthe cells to one ofthe coupling members the aperture in vthe cell at the point 32. iis stretched suiiiciently to al'lowthe combined nut and washer to be inserted therein, and is then passed over the end of the member v18. Since the nut and washer are secured together it is not difficult to Vmanipulate both of them to bring them in the proper relation to the end ofthe member 1S, and by using the arms 29 the nut can be rotated to force the washer 27 into clamping relation with'the l adjacent portions of the cell. It is also a very easy matter, in case one of the cells 'becomes punctured, to remove this cell: by simply unscrewingthe nut 30, whereupon the cell canbe removed and another substituted therefor. i

For inflatingrthe cells I provide an ordinary valve stem 33, Awhich, as shown in Fig. 1, extends through the felly and is connected with the iniating duct 16 by means of a .couplingl member similar to that shown at 341 in Fig. 5. The coupling member 34 shown in Fig. 5 is used for' connecting the deliating duct 17 with the deiiating valve stem 34 shown in-Fig. 1. These. valve stems may be of the usual construction `andneed not be described in detail. As amatter of fact the stem 33 need not be provided with aivalve, for the reason that the valves 21in the memberslS will preventv the air from escaping from the cells through the inflating .'alveffor the stem 3-3 for the reason that it insures that air will not escape vfrom Vthe tire even though the valves 211 may not func- :tion properly. v-

When inflating the tire constructed in ac-V cordance with my invention theV source of compressed air will be attached to the stem In order to determine when "thetire is: suliicientlyinflated the cap of the stem 3i may be removed therefrom and a pressure gage of well-knownconstruction secured to the` stemf34f, uand `inasmuch fas this stem communicates directly with the cells through the defiating` duct 17, it: will.l accuratelyl indicate the pressure in the. cells so.- thatv it is unnecessary to disconnectthe source of pressurev from the. rktire to permit' the 'pressure therein to be measured, and .there is no danger of` overiniiatingy thevv tire.

As shown in Fig. 1 the endsgofthe-valve Y inthe mem'berslS. orl in the stems 33 and 311.-,

Having thusfdescribed my invention, what I claim 1s:

1. Af tire. comprisingaa casing having ad'- jacent edges adapted to be secured to a wheel, a :flexible valve strip'lying between said edgesand-provided `with longitudinally extending inflating andA deflating ducts, a pluralityxof elastic' cells inclosed V-by vsaid valve strip fandcasing, means for establishing communication between eachfof fsaid cells and-said ducts.V comprising a. coupling members providedfwith pair; yoffbores. one of'A which.V communicates with said inflating d'uct and the other offwhich communicates ywith :said-1;d'efl'ating.'ductr'anr inw ardlygop'ening val-vein sai'drst-named bore, an. outwardly openingvalve in sai'dsecondbore, and fan inflating and za .deflating stem Vcommunicating with-:said iniating'andidetlating ducts respectively. l

2. A tire comprising casing,.a f1exible valvefstrip within said casing lprovided with inflating and deflatin-g. ducts, a plurality of elastic cells located-finfsaidcas'ing, a plurality of members-secured I-tosaid valve strip for *establishing communication between said cells and said-ducts, the. .said imembers being :p rovidedfwi-th bores .extending-' bebeing provided :with other.'A bores extending ,between said cells'zand said `deflatingduct,

valves Yin, said' first-named bores seating awayl from said cells, valves in saidzsecondnamed bores, seating toward said;cells, ,and inlating and deflating stems communicating with said inilating and deflating ducts respectively.

3. A tire comprising a casing, a flexible valve strip within said casing, having an inflating and a deflating duct formed therein, the said valve strip being easily flexed to conform it to a wheel and bring its ends in juxtaposition, and the walls of said ducts being suliiciently strong to withstand the pressures imposed thereon, a plurality of elastic cells in said casing, and means for establishing communication between each of said cells and each of said ducts, the means for establishing communication between said cells and one of said ducts comprising valves seating toward said cells, and the means for establishing communication between said cells and the other of said ducts colnlnprising valves seating away from said ce s.

4:. A tire comprising a casing, a flexible valve strip within said casing, having an inflating and a deflating duct formed therein, the said valve strip being easily flexed to conform it to a wheel and bring its ends in juxtaposition, and the walls of' said ducts being sufficiently strong to withstand the pressures imposed thereon, a plurality of elastic cells in said casing, and means for establishing communication between each of said cells and each of said ducts.

5. A tire comprising a casing, a plurality of flexible cells in said casing, a duct for inflating said cells, a duct for deiating said cells, and means for establishing communication between said ducts and said cells, comprising a single member for each of said cells having two ducts formed therethrough, one for establishing communication between each of said cells and said inilating duct, and one for establishing communication between each of said cells and said deflating duct, and means `for securing said cells to said member, comprising a screw-threaded connection.

6. A tire comprising a casing, a plurality of flexible cells in said casing, a duct for inllating said cells, a duct for deiating said cells, and means for establishing communication between said ducts and said cells, comprising a single member for each of said cells having two ducts formed therethrough, one for establishing communication between each of said cells and said inflating duct, and one for establishing communication be'- tween each of said cells and said deflating duct.

7. A tire comprising a casing, a plurality of inflatable cells in said casing, a flexible strip having a duct formed therein, screwthreaded members embedded in said strip each having a bore for establishing conimunication between said duct and said cells, and a combined washer and nut for co-acting with said screw-threaded -member for clamping a portion of said cells to said strip, the said nut being rotatable relatively to said washer.

In witness whereof I hereunto subscribe my name this 20th day of July, 1918.

HARRY L. voN TROTT.

Witnesses:

R. H. WARDLE, Ennis` F. HErsING.

copies of this patent may be obtained for ve cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents, Washington, D. G." 

